Adaptability is a skill I quickly developed graduating from Champlain Valley Union High School in 2020 when Covid-19 struck. I followed my intuition and adapted my plans from going away to college to instead study locally at The University of Vermont. While completing my freshman year of classes remotely, I channeled my creative energy into writing articles for my local newspaper, The Charlotte News, as a volunteer contributor–a role I continued from my junior year of high school. 

 

For my sophomore year, I studied abroad in Italy, spending a semester in Florence and Rome each. While abroad, I spoke Italian and traveled as much as I could so as to learn the most from my experiences. These experiences expanded my writing and creative skills to confirm that my passion for communications could become my profession.

 

I entered my junior year at UVM filled with new perspectives and inspiration, excited to push my writing and creativity forward. I was inducted into UVM’s chapter of The National Society of Leadership and Success, where I developed my leadership skills in a peer success networking team. I also professionally presented my own work at UVM’s annual ENGS and FTS Student Research Symposium. On the poetry panel, I shared four original poems that worked to retell stories–a theme I later came back to with my Honors thesis. 

 

Senior year, I built on my creative thought, analytical writing, and research experiences to raise them to a new level with my undergraduate Honors thesis, “In a Land Where Kingdoms Lay.” I researched gender and sexuality themes in European fairy tales. My thesis was two parts: writing an analytical essay and creating a body of original poetry that together, illustrated and deconstructed the themes I found. I defended my thesis to a panel of three professors and received the highest rating. In May, 2024, I graduated from The University of Vermont with Honors in English. 

 

Currently, I am an intern reporter with VTDigger–the largest newsroom in Vermont. I believe in acting locally while thinking globally to engage with my community. I am also a teacher’s assistant for a kids handbuilding clay class at the Shelburne Craft School as well as for a Community College of Vermont English composition dual enrollment course being taught at my old high school, Champlain Valley Union High School. I hope to have future communication experiences that will expand my perspectives, ideas, and exposures. My goal is to attend graduate school in an English program in my future.